Popcorn
by VinEsquire
Summary: Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson face the consequences of disobeying direct orders from Admiral Ozawa during their most recent mission involving the planet which speeds 700 years in their "main" universe for every 11 days in our universe.
1. Chapter 1

Posted: Dec 25, 2017

Author's note: this story takes place after the 12th episode of the Orville, "Mad Idolatry."

The _U.S.S. Orville_ docked with McCallister Station two weeks before Christmas. After some interesting recent adventures, including a trip through flattened two-dimensional space and encountering a planet whose timeline jumped roughly 700 years each time it reappeared in our universe, the crew were scheduled for some rest and relaxation aboard the station as the engineers did upkeep on the ship.

Captain Edwin Mercer and First Officer Kelly Grayson decided to meet up at the McCallister promenade to share a dinner together. Although they were previously married and recently considered rekindling their relationship, Kelly decided against it. She thought their relationship might be distraction and possibly interfere with Mercer's responsibilities as captain.

Before either of them reached the promenade, both were intercepted by Union special security officers the second they left their temporary assigned quarters.

"Captain Mercer, please come with me," said a muscular master-at-arms. He and two corporals had their hands on their pistols just in case they needed draw on the captain.

"What is this about?" asked Mercer.

"You'll receive an explanation from Admiral Blackbriar," said the chief petty officer.

Mercer stared at the young security officers for a few seconds. The thought crossed his mind that these were, perhaps, not actually Union security personnel. Although McCallister Station was a Union outpost, it orbited a third party neutral planet and members of many different species came and went. He wondered whether these three were Krill operatives disguised as Union humans in order to kidnap him. A few months ago, he and Lieutenant Malloy had disguised themselves as Krill officers in order to infiltrate a Krill ship. He wouldn't be surprised if the Krill tried the same trick against him. Karma could be a real kick in the pants sometimes.

After several seconds of hesitation, one of the guards appeared to be itching to pull his weapon and stun the captain. Mercer put his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"Lead the way, chief," said Mercer.

* * *

"Admiral Ozawa," said her chief-of-staff. "Captain Mercer has been taken into custody."

"Understood," said the admiral. "Let me know when the transport shuttle leaves McCallister."

"Aye, ma'am."

Ozawa shut off the commlink to her aide and opened a new one to her colleague, Admiral Halsey. His images blinked onto the screen on her desk.

"It's done," said Ozawa.

"Good," said Halsey.

* * *

Mercer was led to a waiting area where he saw Kelly already waiting. She was seated, but had two guards standing over her. The master-at-arms motioned for Mercer to take a seat next to Kelly.

As he said down, Mercer asked "what is this about?"

Kelly shrugged her shoulders.

Soon, both of them were escorted in to a large room that resembled a courtroom. Two older men were seated in the spot a judge would usually sit. Ed saw that one was a two-star admiral in the distinctive purple and gold uniform. He had met very few two-stars. It had seemed almost all admirals went from captain straight to five stars. He had always thought that was strange. Next to the admiral was a captain in a blue uniform.

"Mr. Mercer, Ms. Grayson, I'm Rear Admiral Blackbriar. I have the unfortunate task of informing you both that three days ago, an expedited court martial took place against you each. Mr. Mercer, you were charged with disobeying a direct order, omitting information from an official report, and conduct unbecoming a Union Fleet vessel captain. Ms. Grayson, you were charged with disobeying a direct order, and dereliction of duty. You were both found guilty."

Mercer and Kelly were both shocked. They stood silent for a few seconds but Mercer was soon enraged.

"What about my due process rights?" asked Mercer.

"So you're an expert at law now, Mr. Mercer?" asked Blackbriar. "Were you a lawyer in your former life or something?"

"I took a year of law at Union Point," said Kelly. "I know we have the right to present our side of the story to the tribunal."

"Your side of the story?" asked Blackbriar. "We've read the reports. There is no dispute over the underlying facts. You'll also note, Ms. Grayson, that an expedited court martial under article 45 provides you no protection of due process."

"We've already been reprimanded for the recent… mistakes regarding the contamination of the multi-phasic orbit planet."

"That may be so, but this was as serious breach on the chain of command. It required a Board of Inquiry. Your actions have been deemed serious enough removal from the Fleet Officer Corps. Mr. Mercer, you have been demoted to Lieutenant. Ms. Grayson, you have been demoted to Ensign. Both of you will serve one month at New Fort Leavenworth. After such time, you will be dishonorably discharged from the Union Fleet. Guards, take them away."

As Mercer and Kelly were being escorted out, Mercer yelled "But, sir!"

The two-star admiral was not in the mood to hear any appeals. Before Mercer was taken out of the room, he put his hand in the air and displayed his middle finger. Blackbriar sighed.

"We gotta get a better class of command officers," he whispered while shaking his head.

Mercer and Kelly were taken in handcuffs to their temporary quarters. From there, they could gather their personal effects and would be taken to McCallister Station's main shuttle port.

* * *

When Ed and Kelly next saw each other, they were both in unfamiliar uniforms. Ed wore an orange navigator's uniform with lieutenant bars on his shoulders. Kelly wore a green science uniform even though she had never been a science officer. She guessed that Admiral Blackbriar just wanted her out of the blue command uniform and did not care much for what she wound up in.

The five guards that had escorted Ed and Kelly to Admiral Blackbriar's makeshift courtroom continued to escort them through the station. They finally reached the main shuttle port when they saw one additional prisoner waiting for the prisoner transport. It was Lieutenant Alara Kitan, the now former chief of security onboard the Orville.

"Captain," said Alara in part a relief and in part surprise.

"It's Lieutenant now, Alara," said Mercer as he gestured to the rank insignia on his new orange uniform.

"I see…." said Alara, not entirely sure what else to say.

"Have you also been charged with something?" asked Kelly. "Was it related to the most recent mission?

"No, Commander," said Alara. She found it a little awkward that she now appeared to outrank her former superior. Alara was still wearing her normal red uniform and retained her rank of lieutenant. "I have been informed that I will soon be separated from the Fleet on the charge of disobeying a direct order. But the incident was from months ago when you and the captain were captured by the Calicon zookeepers. I'm not sure why the higher ups decided to charge me so late in the game. I guess Admiral Tucker doesn't forget these things."

"Tucker told me specifically that he would not pursue charges over that incident," said Mercer.

"I guess he changed his mind," said Alara in an annoyed tone.

The three former _Orville_ officers were eventually taken aboard the prisoner shuttle. Next stop: New Fort Leavenworth.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked a Union captain. He looked young; younger than Mercer.

"As good as any of these half-baked ideas from Admiral Blackbriar are," responded Admiral Ozawa.

"With all due respect, Blackbriar's an idiot. And an ass to boot," said the young man.

"Well, regardless of those character flaws, he seems to have significant sway with the Joint Chiefs. Let's just sit tight and see how this all turns out."

"Admiral, we've arrived," said the helmsman of the _U.S.S. Olympia_. "We're at all stop."

"Good. Captain, put us in condition Green."

"Set condition green, aye," said the captain of the _Olympia_.

* * *

An hour into the flight and Mercer was still fuming. An expedited court martial. Unheard of. He suddenly noticed a Union battle cruiser while he was staring out the forward viewscreen. The prisoner shuttle shifted its flightpath slightly to an intercept course.

After entering the battle cruiser's main shuttle bay, the prisoner transport powered down.

"Chief, you and your prisoners are cleared to disembark."

"Thank you, pilot," said the head of the security detail.

The prisoners were escorted through the ship and taken to the main conference room. The room wasn't dimly lit, but it wasn't well lit either.

"Lieutenant Mercer, Ensign Grayson, Lieutenant Kitan," said Admiral Ozawa. "Please, have a seat."

The three officers sat at a long conference table on one side directly across from the five-star admiral.

"This is Senior Analyst Xavier. He's from Fleet Intel. He's here to brief you on your new mission." Ozawa pronounced Xavier in the French way: "ex-ah-vee-ay."

"Ladies and gentleman," said Xavier. He pronounced gentleman with an emphasis on man so that it was clear he meant singular. He thought he was being funny. Mercer wasn't smiling. Xavier proceeded in a much more serious tone.

"As of ten minutes ago, all three of you have been declared dead. Your prisoner transport shuttle exploded on route to New Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks," said Xavier.

"But…. what?!" asked a confused Mercer.

Xavier slid a thin computer pad across the table to Mercer.

"This is your new mission," said Xavier. "The _Olympia_ will be taking us to the fleet yard where we have been keeping the Krill ship that you've masterfully commandeered for us a while back. You will take the ship into Klinzek space and torpedo their orbiting shipyard."

"Klinzek?" asked Mercer. "But they're neutrals. They are no threat to us."

"Officially, no. This is why we need deniability on this mission. We need to make it appear that the Krill are the aggressors here," explained Xavier.

"But why attack them? Is this one of the 'if you're not my ally then you're my enemy' type petty nonsense?" asked Kelly.

Xavier looked annoyed. He was not accustomed to his mission operatives questioning him so strongly. At least, not right off the bat over the entire purpose of the mission. It did happen sometimes with minor technical aspects but he always welcomed critical thoughts to make improvements.

"Klinzeki Prime has been facing some internal turmoil. A new regime is poised to come into power and they are inclined to side with the Krill in their crusade against us. This is not to place blame on you, Lieutenant Mercer. However, one of the reasons the Klinzek have a new inclination to ally with the Krill is that they've heard the rumors of Union operatives boarding a Kill battleship and frying Krill officers to a crisp. There were also some wild rumors of quasi-cannibalism where the Union officers ate their prey. Although the Klinzek deem the rumors as wildly exaggerated, they do fear some truth in the underlying basis. Thus far, the Klinzek have not been receptive of Union explanations that no such thing happened."

"But… something similar _did_ happen," said Mercer. "We boarded their ship with the purpose of understanding better through their religious texts. The frying thing was a last resort so that the ship wouldn't nuke a colony full of innocent farmers."

"If you had eliminated all the Krill, no rumors could have spread," said an annoyed Xavier.

"They were children!" insisted Mercer.

"And now they are children who are spreading wild rumors."

Admiral Ozawa interjected.

"Mr. Xavier," said Ozawa. "I think we can all agree that Union regulations and principles, not to mention simple morality, would dictate that we not "fry" innocent children."

"Tell me, Admiral. Would it not be the better alternative to eliminate a dozen or so children and prevent a new front to this war? We are now looking at opening a second front with the Krill and the Klinzeki surrounding us. Are your principles worth the additional thousands or tens of thousands of lives this imperils?"

"You're not worthy of the Union uniform. Otherwise, you would know the answer to that," said a disgusted Admiral Ozawa.

"I'm not a uniformed officer," said Xavier. "I function with significantly more…. liberal operating parameters. I'm Fleet Intel. Special Activities Section 13. And now, you are too. This comes from the highest powers that be. The Commander-in-Chief has authorized this. The Union Senate Standing Committee on Military Affairs has oversight and approved this. This _is_ happening."

"Section 13. That doesn't exist," said Mercer.

"Yet, here I am," said Xavier. "And here you are. You have your orders. Admiral Halsey from Union Central Command has been informed."

"We should at least wait until we get a clearer picture of what the Klinzeki intentions are," said Mercer. "A pre-emptive first strike should be a last resort. Sometimes, the bravest thing to do is to do nothing at all and watch things unfold before you act."

Xavier scoffed.

"You are a Union officer. We need to be proactive against problems. You don't just sit back. Life isn't like the movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' though many people seem to abide by that philosophy. You sit back. Do nothing. Watch as the idiots around you screw up and voila, you're the winner. You now own a chocolate factory. This isn't how real life works."

"I should warn you," said Mercer. "Being proactive is what got me in my current situation. I proactively tried to fix the issues on the planet that believed in the Church of Kelly. And look, busted down to lieutenant."

"You disobeyed a direct order," said Ozawa. " _My_ direct order."

"Which, ironically, gave us the perfect smokescreen to recruit you three into the fold," said Xavier. "Court martialed. Discharged from the service. And Mercer, you have a skillset we need. You've operated this exact Krill warship before. Your insubordination fell like manna from heaven."

"I'm glad you're amused," said Mercer.

Xavier smiled and appeared to be a in a better mood.

"Truth is," said Xavier, "I am, in fact, very amused by you, _Lieutenant_ Mercer." He stressed the word lieutenant, which visibly irritated Mercer.

"I've been reading up on your adventures on the _Orville_. Your entire captaincy reads like a fiction novel of some sort. In fact, your latest after action report reads like an episode of an old-timey television show called Star Trek. An episode titled "Who Watches the Watchers?" A primitive native misunderstands advanced medical technology and mistakes the ship's captain for a deity."

"I'm sure something similar has happened before, hence the need for the directive to avoid contact with primitive cultures," said Kelly.

"No, Ms. Grayson," said Xavier. "Believe it or not, you are the first case of any primitive mistaking a Union officer for a god. Or goddess, in your case. Oh, there have been other contaminations with regard to technology and causing a culture to advance prematurely. But nothing like deity worship."

"It was an honest mistake. There were good intentions," said Mercer.

"And oh, look at this one," said a still smiling Xavier. "This mission involves your officer John LaMarr on the planet Sargas 4. His life or death turns into a popularity contest driven by up votes or down votes. It sounded familiar to me, and alas, I found a science fiction story titled "Nosedive." The description being: a woman living in a world where people rate each other from one stars to five stars on every interaction they have, seeing her social rating nosedive due to an unfortunate series of events. If I didn't know better, I would've thought you sat around on your ship all day, doing nothing but watching tv. Then, writing up false reports about the adventures you have. Based on your tv watching, of course."

"Then why have I been court-martialed?" asked Mercer. "If you don't think any of my missions actually took place."

"Oh, I think they happened. We _do_ have a captured Krill battleship. That didn't materialize out of nowhere. Your entire life somehow resembles a sitcom. Or, at least, a tv show. Which is why your current assigned mission is even more appropriate. It's similar to another tv episode of a branch off of Star Trek. A Deep Space Nine episode where one hostile species gets framed for bombing the ship of a neutral empire in order to drag them into an inter-quadrant war."

"Can we stop the bickering?" demanded Admiral Ozawa. "Mercer, are you onboard?"

Mercer reviewed the mission specs and eventually reluctantly agreed.

"Good," said an exasperated Ozawa.

"But I need Gordon on this," said Mercer. "I don't need Kelly or Alara. Gordon is the only other one with operational knowledge of the Krill battleship."

"Unfortunately, we go with the people we have," said Xavier. "I couldn't manufacture a plausible explanation to get Gordon court martialed. As reckless and childish as he may be, he's still competent in his duties and has not committed any serious offense against regs. At least not recently. We go ahead with you, Lieutenant Mercer, as the pilot and with Lieutenant Kitan as the weapons officer. Ensign Grayson is there as a back-up pilot in case either of you go down."

"Why the ruse with the court martial?" asked Kelly. "We could have ordered us straight out."

"The Union Fleet needs deniability. Hopefully, things go as planned, but if you get captured, we deny all ties. Mercer, Grayson, and Kitan will be deemed as acting without Fleet knowledge. We'll have records that you were court martialed and that you faked your own deaths to avoid imprisonment. You decided to attack the Klinzeki shipyard on you own."

"That's ridiculous, who would believe that?" asked Mercer.

"A quirky American president once said that plausible deniability is best, but in an emergency implausible deniability will often suffice," said Xavier.

"Who would say such a thing?" asked Kelly.

"Donald somebody. I don't know, I'm not an expert at American history. But you understand the concept. We'll deny your orders.

"I presume we will be reinstated once we complete our covert mission?" asked Mercer.

"I believe so," said Ozawa. "But no promises. The good news is that the _Orville_ is still in dock being retrofitted. As such, there is no captain necessary and you have not been replaced as of yet. The somewhat bad news is that the lieutenant commander who had been in line for promotion to command the _Orville_ before Halsey moved you to the top of the list is still itching for the slot. She might get the chance."

"How is that fair?" asked Mercer. "I accomplish this very important mission and still get screwed?"

"You. Disobeyed. An. Order," said Ozawa forcefully. After she calmed down a little bit, she said "Life isn't always fair. But if you complete this mission, I will try my best to return the Orville to you. In the alternative, you will get the next ship available and the most prestigious posting as I can get you while waiting for your next command.:

Mercer looked defeated. He nodded his agreement.

After discussing the mission for a few more minutes, a chime indicated that Ozawa had a message from the bridge.

"Admiral, we're at the coordinates," said Captain Rohrbacher.

"Acknowledged."

* * *

Mercer, Kelly, and Alara changed clothing and met back with Ozawa and Xavier. The five of them then walked from the conference room to _Olympia_ 's bridge. Mercer stared at the Krill battleship on the main viewscreen.

"Mr. Mercer, there's your ship. The _Redenbacher_ ," said the captain.

"The _Redenbacher_?" asked Mercer.

"Yea, I thought it had a nice ring to it. Kind of suits you. Orville Redenbacher, Get it?"

Mercer chuckled slightly,

"You know, my ship was named after Orville Wright. Of the Wright Brothers. The first in flight. Not the popcorn magnate," said Mercer.

"Well, the Wilbur wouldn't have sounded as cool," said the captain.

"It also wouldn't have sounded like the captain's own name," added the _Olympia_ 's first officer, with a silly grin on her face.

"Krill shuttle is approaching," said the Olympia's weapons officer.

"Clear it for entry, main shuttlebay," said Captain Rohrbacher.

"On me," said Admiral Ozawa as she headed to the lifts that would take them to the shuttlebay.

"Oh, Captain Mercer, godspeed," said Rohrbacher.

"I'm a lieutenant now," said Mercer. He wasn't wearing his orange uniform with rank insignia. He, Kelly, and Alara had changed into all black clothing to "hide" their affiliation with the Union Fleet.

"I heard. But you are now in command of that vessel over there. As such, regardless of rank, you are a captain. It's naval tradition," said Rohrbacher with a smile.

Mercer smiled back. "Thanks."

* * *

Mercer took a seat in the Krill battleship's captain's chair. It was a weird feeling.

"Ms Grayson, take us into Klinzeki space," said Mercer.

"Hey, I'm just a back-up pilot," said Kelly in a light tone. "You're the official pilot."

Mercer made a face at Kelly. He then leapt from the captain's chair and punched a few commands into the navigators console.

"I think you can probably figure this out, right Kelly?" asked Mercer.

"I believe I'm your ship's medic, so it's not my job to figure any of this out," said Kelly. She smiled, but started playing with the navigation console to learn the controls. Next to her, Alara was also acquainting herself with the weapons system console.

Ed Mercer returned to his captain's chair. This was going to be a weird mission. He had one and a half days to think about whether he would perform the preemptive strike. He had warned Xavier that he had a penchant for disobeying orders. However, Xavier said he was confident that Ed Mercer would "do the right thing."


	2. Chapter 2: Reputation

The Orville

Popcorn: Chapter 2 - Reputation

By VinEsquire

March 2018

The next morning, Ed Mercer awoke and sat in front of his desktop mulling over several reports he had read over and over the night before. They were the intelligence reports which suggested that Klinzek was on the verge of allying with the Krill. Mercer saw them as inconclusive. The analysts admitted as much. However, in the "conclusion" sections of the reports, they always stated a high probability that a new alliance would form. Mercer wished he could get a better feel for the situation. The Union analysts knew basically nothing about the Krill. The Klinzeki were not much more open. Fleet Intel wrote their reports on a few dozen intercepted messages and other electronic communications. What if they were false plants? Or exaggerations by biased parties?

Mercer next opened up a three-dimensional map of the galaxy, with his current position near the middle of the display. They had left Union space about twelve hours ago. Union space was depicted in purple and was a little higher than the center of the map display. Below Union space were a few miscellaneous uninhabited planets and then below that was Klinzeki space in yellow. To the right of both Union space and Klinzeki space was Krill space, shaded in green. The extent of both Krill and Klinzeki space wasn't completely known, Klinzeki territory was known to be relatively small while Krill territory was roughly equal to or larger than the Union.

Mercer soon walked out of his quarters and made his way to the bridge.

Kelly Grayson sat at the navigator's station as Mercer walked onto the bridge. She gave him a brief glance when he entered.

"One hour, thirty-six minutes until we cross into Klinzek space," said Kelly.

Lieutenant Kitan back in her quarters taking a nap. She had been the on-duty officer earlier as Mercer and Kelly were sleeping.

"Time to put on our game faces," said Mercer. He made a note to contact Alara roughly an hour and a half from now to get her on the bridge.

* * *

Riki and Risha were sitting by the pool and sipping a couple of very sweet somewhat alcoholic drinks and thinking about their new president-elect.

"I can't believe that doofus actually won the election," said Riki.

"Yea," said Risha in agreement. Although Risha herself agreed with Riki, she knew that there were some members of their friends circle who had silently cheered for the doofus whom mainstream media had nicknamed "The Menace." To think, this new guy might change the entire Klinzek way of life by allying with the Krill. However, there were large parts of the population who thought it was time for the Klinzeki Commonwealth to come out of their self-imposed seclusion. The new president also had a reputation for being more of a childish and selfish playboy than a truly dangerous person.

Both of their wristbound communications devices suddenly buzzed and then rang aloud in a sharp shriek. Riki and Risha stared at the small text screens in disbelief and then horror.

On their screens read: Krill battleship detected inbound. Seek immediate shelter. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

"What?!" screamed Riki.

"No way, this has got to be a mistake," said Risha. The two of them lived in a paradise colony far from Klinzek Prime, but they were nowhere near Krill space. If anything, they would face an invasion force from the humans' alliance. The Krill and Klinzek had historically agreed to leave each other alone and not enter each others' space. However, the current state of relations was in massive flux and the two possible outcomes were polar opposites. The newly elected administration had proposed to negotiate an alliance with the Krill so that they could both better fend off the dangers of a growing Planetary Union. On the opposite side, the current outgoing administration had blamed the Krill for covert and devious interference in the recent elections to cause the loss of the current ruling party and the surprise upset election victory of the opposing political party. The current administration had suggested a military response against the Krill, to which the Krill promised a massive and furious pre-emptive strike. The Klinzek population was now on constant alert for invasion forces from either the Krill or the human-led Planetary Union.

Risha gathered her clothes and urged her friend Riki to do the same.

"Just in case, let's get our butts to the bomb shelters."

The two of them calmly made their way to their designated safety zones. Their wrist devices had a countdown and showed roughly 10 minutes until the Krill battleship would be in weapons range.

* * *

"Captain, we are being hailed," said Alara.

"On screen," said Mercer.

"Krill battleship, this is the Udso sector border security of the Klinzek Commonwealth. You are ordered to halt immediately and are forbidden to cross into Klinzek space. Please acknowledge."

"Captain, I'm showing two small patrol vessels closing in," said Alara.

"Klinzek border patrol," said Mercer. "What is the meaning of this? We are allies."

The Klinzek officer on screen made a face, which Mercer presumed was how a furious Klinzeki would appear.

"You know full well, Krill sunha, that no treaty has been agreed to by our current President. You will honor the Treaty of Dorsas, which has been in effect for centuries and forbids Krill Navy vessels from our territory."

Mercer couldn't decipher whether the word 'sunha' was a Klinzek word with a negative connotation or an honorable one. Was the Klinzek insulting him? Or trying to treat him with some level of respect.

"Mute," said Mercer. Alara muted the communications.

"Assess," said Mercer.

"Well," said Kelly. "If you want to go with the spirit of our orders, we could just destroy these two guys and be on our way. The border patrol will blame the Krill and then we will ruin any chance of a potential alliance between the Klinzek and the Krill."

"Our weapons _are_ vastly superior," said Alara.

Mercer thought about his current situation. This new development _did_ seem to make his mission a little bit easier. Or, at least, it would be quicker. However, he still hesitated. He thought of the poor border guards who would lose their lives in this ruse to set up the Krill.

"Can we rig our weapons so that we can disable them without destroying them?" asked Mercer.

Alara punched a few commands into her weapons control console.

"We could if I had a staff of a handful of officers or if I had more time," said Alara. "I need to make my way down to the weapons array and physically adjust some things down there."

"Do it now and keep a communications channel open," said Mercer.

Alara ran out of the bridge and Mercer turned his attention back to the Klinzek officer on the screen. He brainstormed any tactic to delay the potential confrontation. He unmuted the comm channel.

"Klinzek border patrol," said Mercer. "I apologize for any misunderstanding. I will not enter into Klinzek space. We mean you no harm. However, please allow me to take some time to send a message to my command and clarify how I am to proceed. I was previously tasked to pay a visit to Klinzek Prime."

"Acknowledged," said the Klinzek patrol officer. "There will be no problem as long as you stay outside of our borders. Please also be advised that we have called for reinforcements and more patrol sweepers are heading our way."

"Understood," said Mercer. He shut off the communications channel and the image on the screen blinked off.

"Let's hope we can get those weapons recalibrated before those reinforcements arrive," said Mercer to Kelly.

Kelly nodded.

* * *

Senior Intel Analyst Jean-Claude Xavier sat at an open air cafe and sipped a frappucino. He was soon joined by his superior, Deputy Section Chief Blair Garfield.

"How did you get them to clear out all the customers?" asked Xavier.

"My brother owns this cafe," said Garfield. "What did you think of Mercer? Were you impressed?"

"He seemed very run-of-the-mill," said Xavier. "But his record is impressive, and most of the extraordinary people in the history books were very ordinary at first glance. I get the feel Mercer is one of these types. An average joe who does extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances."

"What is the update with Dr. Aronov?"

"He was able to duplicate the time acceleration technology. The tech geeks are conducting numerous experiments."

"When is the timeship ready to launch?" asked Garfield.

"One week, give or take a day."

"Who's in command?"

"Chip Winston."

"Christ."

"Halsey insisted."

Lieutenant Commander Chip Winston was originally in line to become the captain of the _Orville_. That was, until someone cashed in a personal favor and the ship went to Ed Mercer. Winston had been one of Halsey's proteges from an earlier command and Halsey promised to give him the next ship available. However, not everyone was a fan of Chip Winston.

"Let's hope Winston surprises on the upside like Mercer has," said Garfield.

* * *

"I'm showing ten vessels that just entered scanning range," said Kelly. She wasn't panicked, but there was an urgency in her voice. "Heading toward our location. They came out of nowhere."

"Klinzek?" asked Mercer.

"Vessel configurations match, but…. They are not coming from Klinzek space. They are coming from our aft direction," said a confused Kelly.

Mercer looked at the screen and felt a tinge of annoyance rising in himself.

"Alara, get back up here. No need to recalibrate the weapons, we might need them on full," said Mercer into his chair's armrest.

"Yes, captain," came the response.

Although the Krill battlecruiser would be capable of fending off several of the much smaller border patrol craft, it would suffer serious damage against a dozen. Not to mention, Ed Mercer had no damage control staff on his ship to repair any damage from incoming fire.

"Kelly, plot a course away from here. Make it look like we are heading toward Krill space," said Mercer.

Kelly Grayson's hands glided across the navigation console.

"Course plotted."

"Do it."

As the _Redenbacher_ started to reorient itself and the main engines started to power up, the Klinzek patrol sent a message.

"Krill captain, please hold position."

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Mercer. "Are we being detained?"

"Sir, I have been told that the advisers to the new President-elect have requested to meet with you."

"I do not have orders from my central command to meet with anyone from your next president's administration," said Mercer.

"I'm just relaying a message," said the Klinzek border patrol officer. "Of course, if you decide to leave, I am not capable of stopping you."

Mercer gave it some thought. Even if he left, he wasn't sure if there would be other Klinzek ships that could theoretically intercept him. He decided to play it calm and wait to see what would unfold.

"Power down the engines," said Mercer.

Kelly placed the engines back on standby as they both watched Alara re-enter the bridge.

* * *

Lieutenant Commander Bortas sat impatiently just outside of Vice Admiral Fargo's ornate office. Fargo was the Union Fleet's Judge Advocate General, the top lawyer of the fleet. Bortas had pulled a couple of favors in order to get a face-to-face meeting with Fargo. Even though his former shipmates were already declared dead in a space accident, Bortas insisted on pursuing an appeal that would clear their names and restore their ranks. It was a matter of honor.

"Commander, the Admiral will see you now," said the Admiral's assistant.

Bortas walked into the Admiral's office and was surprised to find that Admiral Halsey was present along with Vice Admiral Fargo.

"Commander Bortas," said Halsey. "I understand you have expressed a desire to re-open the cases of your former colleagues Ed Mercer, Kelly Grayson, and Alara Kitan for their various charges of dereliction of duty and disobeying direct orders."

"Yes, sir," said a stoic Bortas. "I believe strongly that they were unfairly punished for actions that were in line with the finest traditions of the Union Fleet. Though, admittedly, they did not follow their direct orders, they did have valid reasons for their actions."

"I appreciate your loyalty to your crewmates," said Fargo. "You can rest assured that I will personally look at the files and give these three the proper considerations."

"Thank you, admiral," said Bortas.

"How are the crew of the _Orville_?" asked Admiral Halsey. "How are they digesting the tragic accident involving their former captain?"

"The crew are remain strong. We will all remember Captain Mercer, Commander Grayson, and Lieutenant Kitan as some of the best officers in the Fleet."

After Commander Bortas was dismissed, Fargo and Halsey continued discussing the _Orville_.

"Are you planning to promote Bortas to the captaincy?" asked Fargo.

"Actually, we are holding off on any moves until the _Orville_ has completed the systems upgrades," said Halsey.

Fargo was curious, but he had a feeling there was some type of hyper-classified plan playing out.

* * *

"Welcome to Legolonn," said chief aide Karnes.

Mercer, Kelly, and Alara were being escorted through a very beautiful resort on a nearby neutral moon which was owned by the new President-Elect of the Klinzek Commonwealth. He was a relatively wealthy individual who held estates even outside of Klinzeki space.

At first, Mercer was reluctant to follow the group of small private Klinzek vessels that had intercepted the _Redenbacher_. However, the lead advisor to the incoming president seemed to be quite insistent. He promised that Legolonn would be neutral ground. Mercer thought about shooting his way out of the predicament. It would achieve his mission objective and he could hopefully return to Union space safe and sound. However, it just felt wrong to kill Klinzek who had, so far, done nothing offensive toward the Union. Perhaps Union Fleet Intel had picked the wrong man for this covert operation.

The three Union officers, disguised as Krill, were soon led to a large ornate mansion and introduced to the president-elect and his entourage of senior staffers. There were two military aides, several political operatives, and a couple of his family members. The entire mansion was crawling with uniformed soldiers that were heavily armed. Although the president-elect was still two months from being sworn into office, he has been afforded official bodyguards from the Klinzek Defense Ministry ever since it was clear he was one of the frontrunners in the election.

Mercer never found out the president-elect's name. He only ever heard everyone around him call him "sir," or "Mr. President-Elect." A couple of times, Mercer overheard one of the security detail refer to the soon-to-be president as "Blackbird One." Although Mercer knew he could find the information later on, he decided to refer to his host as Blackbird One for the time being.

"It is a great pleasure to meet you," said Blackbird as he greeted the three seemingly Krill officers.

"The honor is ours," said Mercer. He gave a slight bow of his head, hoping that made sense as a sign of respect and that it would conform with something a typical Krill officer might do in the presence of a superior.

"Believe it or not, I have never met a Krill military officer before, despite all the rumors of how close I am to the Krill," said Blackbird.

"I have never met a Klinzeki, much less a distinguished one such as yourself," said Mercer.

Blackbird appeared to smile.

"Captain Coja, what brought you to our neck of the woods?" asked Blackbird. "I was under the impression that the Krill would not be making any official contact until I was sworn into office."

"There must have been a miscommunication from my central command. When I realized, I tried to leave the Klinzek border as fast as possible but your Klinzek patrols asked me to stay and meet with your chief aide."

"Yes. Although we were not expecting you, once I heard the rumors that a Krill battleship had arrive nearby and caused some very panicked emergency broadcasts, I decided to take the opportunity to meet you. I hope you will report back to your commandants that you were treated well by your hosts here."

Mercer nodded. "I will."

"While you are here, would you care for a game of klausnikt?" asked Blackbird. One of Blackbird's aides explained the game as a relatively carefree pasttime where competitors threw discs across large sections of the gardens whilst trying to hit certain targets along the way. Usually, there were three targets on each course until the final target.

Mercer chuckled softly. Blackbird raised a curious eyebrow.

"I've played a similar game when I was much younger. We called it 'frolf,' which is short for frisbee golf. We call the disc a frisbee."

"Ah, so you are familiar with the game!" said a delighted aide.

Blackbird waved off his aide.

"Although I know you meant no offense, I am sure a man of action such as yourself would be interested in a much more… vigorous game," said Blackbird.

Mercer was curious, but shook his head.

"No, no, good sir. I am happy to play your game. Klosnit, is it?"

Blackbird waved in a few of his aides and they begin dressing the President Elect, a few of his bodyguards, and also Mercer and Alara, in some type of vest.

"I will leave your High Priestess Teleya out of this game, as it is perhaps a slightly more violent game than a religious person might want to partake," said Blackbird. He was referring to Kelly as a high priestess of the church of Avis since that is what Mercer had introduced Kelly as.

"You would be surprised how violent the lord Avis expects his priests to be," said Mercer.

"Still, I do not feel comfortable with having a priestess in this combat simulation," said Blackbird.

Mercer nodded his agreement.

Blackbird went on to describe a game that was similar to a hybrid of lazertag and capture the flag. Blackbird would, in essence, be the flag, or the target. Although his position was called the "king," he would be the weakest player on the field. Out of curiosity, Blackbird named Mercer as his chief bodyguard. It surprised Blackbird's actual bodyguard a great deal.

"Captain Coja, I would like you to be my strong safety," said Blackbird. The strong safety was the guard who stayed by the king's side and had the lazer that rapid fired the fastest. Complementing the strong safety was a soldier called the "free safety" who was a combination scout and sniper. This person operated far from the king but always watched over the king from a distance. Mercer picked Alara to be his free safety, and she was armed with a lazer rifle that was accurate from very far distances, but could only fire one shot at a time.

"Sir," said Mercer. "I must admit, while I consider myself a great ship's captain and strategist, I have very little skill at close-quarters combat and asset protection."

"No worries, Captain Coja," said Blackbird with a smile. "I trust your abilities."

The remaining three members of Blackbird's bodyguard detail were called the "fire trooper," the "lightning trooper," and the "stone trooper." The three troopers typically stayed in medium close distance to the king. They were also under the direct control of the strong safety, whereas the sniper had free range over his or her own movements.

"Standard formation, captain?" asked one of the troopers.

Mercer nodded and two of the troopers took positions roughly thirty feet from the king, in roughly opposite directions. The third trooper took a position about 15 feet out. The lightning trooper held two laser pistols, one in each hand. The fire trooper had a laser weapon which resembled a shotgun. It was relatively powerful, but did not shoot as frequent as Mercer's laser assault rifle. The stone trooper was unique. He was the only one of the group who did not hold a laser firearm. Instead, he had three small devices that he could throw that acted like grenades. Mercer couldn't quite decide how useful the grenadier was. After using up the three devices, the stone trooper would be weaponless. However, the grenades themselves could be useful.

"Okay, people. Game's on," said Blackbird.

"Try your best not to get me shot," whispered Blackbird to Mercer. Blackbird was still smiling.

Mercer signaled to Alara that she should scout ahead and fall into distant overwatch.

* * *

"What?" asked a surprised Admiral Halsey.

"Scattered reports that a Krill battleship almost entered Klinzek territorial space. It was soon diverted to neutral territory and the Krill captain appears to be having an impromptu summit with the incoming Klinzek president.

"So instead of launching an attack to drive a wedge between the Klinzeki and the Krill, Mercer is reinforcing their diplomatic relations?" a senior intelligence colonel wondered out loud.

Deputy Section Chief Garfield waved his hand in a dismissive way.

"Let this play," said Garfield. He was confident that Mercer had a plan. Even if Mercer didn't, Garfield believed Mercer was one of those who always had lady luck on his side. And that was better than any intricate plan or master skill at assassination. Garfield knew this would work.

Although it sounded like Garfield was recommending a course of action, in reality, there was really nothing the Union Central Command could do other than watch the situation unfold.

"Perhaps….." said Jean-Claude Xavier, "he is leading them into a false sense of security only to betray them. Killing the president-elect, now that would be the ultimate in driving a wedge between the Klinzek and the Krill."

The Union Fleet officers considered the possibility.

* * *

President-Elect "Blackbird" walked slowly toward the mission objective with his tiny entourage carefully scanning the area around them, their various laser weapons raised and ready to fire.

Mercer was a little nervous, but seemed to be relatively comfortable. After all, this was just a game. The laser weapons would do no lasting damage. Not even a temporary stun. Though, if an enemy team managed to "tag" one of the vests with the laser, there would be a strong zap. The vest wearer would definitely feel it.

The amount of hits required to "officially" disable an enemy soldier varied depending on the weapon. For Mercer's assault rifle and Alara's sniper rifle, two laser "tags" would take an enemy soldier out of the game. For the shotgun, it only required one hit. However, for the laser pistols, it required 5 hits. The grenade eliminated any soldier within three feet of the exploding grenade, regardless of whether it was an enemy soldier or friendly soldier.

"Captain Coja, come in," came Alara's voice over the radio.

"Go ahead," said Mercer.

"I'm seeing six hostiles heading towards you at a high rate of speed. They are on vehicles that resemble a motorcycle from olden Krill days."

Mercer looked at Blackbird.

"Are they allowed to have fast-moving vehicles?" asked Mercer.

Blackbird shrugged.

"Well, we'll be sitting ducks if we're out in the open," said Mercer. He looked at his electronic map and spotted a nearby area that was forested. They could reach in maybe 5 minutes.

"Close ranks, form a diamond," said Mercer to his troopers.

"Match," said the troopers. It was the Klinzek way of saying they heard the command and would comply. It was similar to how human soldiers said "Roger" or "copy."

Mercer told Alara where the group was heading and Alara responded that she would follow them into the forest.

* * *

Mercer couldn't quite believe how incompetent his troopers turned out to be. It was almost as if they were failing on purpose. While it was true that the attacking party had the advantage of being mounted on motorbikes, all three of his troopers seemed incapable of taking proper cover behind the trees of the forest. Alara had been able to take out one of the advancing enemy soldiers from a distance and also shot a couple of soldiers one time. Mercer finished off a few with a second shot but he was now surrounded by 3 enemy soldiers while Alara was out of range.

Although Mercer knew he was going to fail this particular "mission," he still had a drive to fight to his very last breath. He watched as two enemy soldiers closed in on President-Elect Blackbird. Mercer pushed his protectee to the ground and did his best to shield the "asset" as he was shot three times by the laser pistols. Blackbird himself was also shot.

Soon, one the enemy soldiers reached out a hand to help Blackbird stand up. Another enemy soldier did the same for Mercer. After Blackbird dusted himself off, he clapped gently.

"Captain Coja, I admire your perseverance," said Blackbird.

To Mercer's surprise, about a dozen other soldiers soon arrived. Both Kelly and Alara were being held at gunpoint and led towards Mercer. These guns appeared to be real, not the mock weapons from the laser tag game.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Mercer.

"You know, I noticed something quite interesting as we were walking through the garden earlier, and then also as we were moving in formation trying to reach the mission objective," said Blackbird.

Mercer didn't say anything, but his expression hinted that he did not understand what Blackbird was trying to say.

"It's such a beautiful day out today. So sunny. And yet none of you three Krill seem to be affected. Not one complaint," said Blackbird.

"We've been highly trained to operate in adverse conditions," said Mercer.

Blackbird waved him off.

"That may be true, but I know that Krill are physiologically unable of operating in such heat," Blackbird said as he was fanning himself. "You wouldn't just be whining about melting in the heat, you would literally be lying on the ground with heatstroke."

Blackbird's chief bodyguard and two other soldiers aimed their weapons at Mercer.

"So, I ask myself," said Blackbird. "How is this possible?"

Mercer thought about his predicament for a few minutes but wasn't sure what to do. Blackbird was getting impatient.

"Explain yourself, Captain Coja," said one of Blackbird's economic advisors. Someone who was rumored to have close contacts with the Krill.

Mercer turned off his holographic projector and revealed himself to be a human. The Klinzek were in minor shock and held their weapons trained on Mercer. Mercer held his hands up.

"I can explain," said Mercer. "We meant no harm. We were only on a mission to learn more about the Klinzek, as our intelligence agencies are reporting a likely alliance between you and the Krill."

Blackbird stared at Mercer for several seconds. He seemed to recognize Mercer, but wasn't entirely sure.

"Edward Mercer," said Blackbird, somewhat confident that he had finally remembered an image he had seen before as he was briefed by his galactic security advisor.

A few of the soldiers gasped.

"The hero of Epsilon 2. The destroyer of the _Kakov_ and the butcher of the _Yakar_ crew," said Blackbird's top general.

Blackbird smiled. "Your reputation precedes you," Blackbird seemed to say approvingly.

"Those things your general said about me are not completely accurate," said Mercer.

"Still," said Blackbird, "I am sure they have some basis in fact. I sense you are not an evil man, Commander Mercer. Perhaps you consider yourself an honorable man. Maybe you truly are one. But I know for a fact you are a brave and dangerous man. So, I ask you, why should my men not shoot you and your two staff officers dead right here and now?"


	3. Chapter 3: Deal or No Deal?

The Orville

Popcorn: Chapter 3 – Deal or no deal?

By Vincent Chia

December 2018

"Admiral on deck!" shouted a young lieutenant on the bridge of the _Orville._

Admiral Halsey strolled onto the command center of the _Orville_ along his protege, Chip Hudson.

Hudson took a seat in the captain's chair. He looked around the bridge and felt a brief sense of amusement.

"Ahem," said Lieutenant Commander Bortus. Hudson stood back up and allowed Bortus to take the captain's chair.

"Please forgive Mr. Hudson," said Halsey. "Chip had been one of the three finalists for the captaincy of the _Orville_ before we made the final decision in favor of Ed Mercer."

Hudson wanted to see, for a second, what he missed out on. Not that he would trade his current assignment for any other. It turned out that losing the _Orville_ command was the best thing that could've happened to him.

"Commander Bortus," said Halsey. "Please take us out."

Bortus gave a quick nod to the officer at the helm console.

"Lieutenant Malloy, take us to the rendezvous point," said Bortus.

"Aye, sir. Engaging engines."

* * *

Ed Mercer remained calm as three soldiers aimed their firearms at his head.

"I can understand your concern regarding the possible danger posed by the Planetary Union," said Mercer. "If I heard the stories that you heard, I would be concerned too. However, I must stress that those stories are wildly inaccurate. The Planetary Union is a peaceful organization."

"The Planetary Union has more heavy cruisers near the border alone than the total number in our entire fleet. And the vast majority of your ships are deployed elsewhere," said Blackbird's top general. "Even your medium frigates can outgun and outrun our most advanced ships."

"It's true the Planetary Union's fleet has great capability, but we have no intent on harming anyone," said Kelly.

"That's a lot of firepower for a supposedly peaceful organization focused on scientific exploration," pointed out one of Blackbird's civilian advisors. Mercer later learned that this civilian was Blackbird's head scientist.

"It's a dangerous world out there," said Mercer. "As our encounters with the Krill demonstrate, we have to able to defend ourselves."

"I can respect your need to defend yourselves," said Blackbird. "But you must admit, coming into our territory, under disguise. That does not demonstrate peaceful intentions."

"That was an unfortunate misunderstanding," said Mercer. "And I apologize for it."

Blackbird thought about the situation for a while. He thought about how lopsided a war with the Planetary Union would prove. The Klinzek Commonwealth would go down hard and fast. Though, if the Klinzek were to ally with the Krill, the fight would be more evenly matched. But… did Blackbird trust the Krill?

* * *

"Mr. Hudson, welcome aboard," said Admiral Ozawa.

Admiral Halsey and Commander Hudson took a small V.I.P. shuttle from the _Orville_ to the _U.S.S. Olympia_.

"Admiral Halsey," said Ozawa. "The _Olympia_ battle group is ready to proceed to the Krill borderlands. On your command."

"Thank you, Kelsey," said Halsey. Although they were both five star admirals, Halsey's position in the Fleet's command structure was slightly above Ozawa's.

"Captain Rohrbacher," said Halsey. "Notify Lieutenant Commander Bortus that the _Orville_ is now temporarily attached to the _Olympia_ battle group. Have her fall into formation behind the _Honolulu_."

"Aye, admiral," said Rohrbacher.

"Helmsman," said Halsey. "Take us to the borderlands. All ahead standard."

"All ahead standard, aye," said the female lieutenant at the helm console. She punched in a few commands and the _Olympia_ started on course with her mini-fleet soon following.

* * *

The buzzing was getting more intense. Or… something that sounded like buzzing. While Ed Mercer, Kelly Grayson, and Alara Kitan were awaiting Blackbird's decision, a flurry of large insects came flying in and started harassing the humanoids who had encroached onto their territory.

As some of Blackbird's soldiers became distracted, Alara took the opportunity to strike at two armed guards closest to her. Her enhanced strength took the Klinzek by surprise as she was able to disarm them both and threw them several feet into the air and away from her.

As the other soldiers tried to react, Ed and Kelly also saw their chance. They acted almost reflexively. Soon, Ed and Kelly were armed with rifles and Alara was armed with two pistols, one in each hand. The three of them formed a tight semi-circle facing the remaining armed Klinzek soldiers.

As they stood in a Mexican stand-off for close to a minute, the buzzing insects grew louder and louder.

Blackbird's scientific advisor suddenly became agitated. Some of the soldiers had killed a few of the insects and the scientific advisor started studying the insects. His revelation was that this was a species of insect that was not originally from this planet. He recognized the species as one that was potentially venomous to the Klinzek.

Although he was visibly agitated, he kept his voice as calm as possible. He explained the situation and gave his recommendation.

"Mr. President, we don't have time for this. We should seek shelter immediately."

* * *

"Lieutenant Malloy," said Bortus. "Please go down to the shuttlebay and greet our visitor, our old friend. Dr. Jackson."

"Who?" asked a puzzled Malloy.

"Just report to the shuttlebay."

"Yes, sir," said Malloy. He got up from his seat at the _Orville_ 's helm console and headed off the bridge.

Bortus remained seated in the captain's chair. His annoyed mood endured. Neither of the admirals saw fit to explain what the _Olympia_ group's mission was. "Need to know," was the default explanation. They wouldn't have treated Captain Mercer the same way, thought Bortus. He sighed. Perhaps soon, the admirals will get accustomed to treating him as the _Orville_ 's captain.

Contrasted with Bortus, Malloy was in a fairly chipper mood. He was still saddened by the relatively recent news that his best friend Ed Mercer was killed in a random and tragic accident. However, he knew that Mercer would want all of his friends and the _Orville_ crew to carry on. Malloy was a little bit stunned as he entered the shuttlebay and caught a glimpse of someone high on Mercer's enemies list.

"Doctor…. Jackson?" wondered Malloy out loud.

A smiling Retepsian nodded. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Malloy," said Darulio Jackson with a goofy grin.

"Since when did you have the last name Jackson?" asked a confused Malloy.

"As an archeologist, I have often studied ancient civilizations. From time to time, I also make observations about current civilizations. I have determined that humans like to address each other by last names or family names when they are in formal situations. So I decided to create a last name for myself. You know, to seem more official. Ed and Kelly were the humans I was closest to and you Americans seem to like last names that end in –son. Like Kelly Grayson. Jackson, Johnson, Williamson, Harrison, there are like twenty more. So here I am, Dr. Darulio Jackson. Has a nice ring, don't you think?"

Darulio continued smiling.

* * *

Ed, Kelly, and Alara joined Blackbird and his entourage back in the country club mansion and sealed themselves inside. While the Orville officers didn't know if the insects were also poisonous for them, they decided not to chance it. Ed was partially surprised, in a pleasant way, that Blackbird did not decide to maroon the three Union officers to be left outside and possibly fall victim to the insects.

"That would not have been the honorable thing to do," said Blackbird matter-of-factly.

Mercer expressed his appreciation.

Blackbird now no longer considered Mercer a threat. Mercer had been briefed vaguely that Blackbird was known to often have a short attention span. He could see now that Blackbird was focused on the insects and cared almost nothing about the Union officers.

"How did they get here?" asked Blackbird aloud.

His advisors threw out a couple of random theories, but nobody was sure. The leading theory was that it was sabotage, plain and simple. Maybe even from the political party that was currently in power. Blackbird ruled it out. While he and the current president hated each other, the current president was an honorable man and would allow a peaceful transition of power. He wouldn't have done something like this.

Blackbird then looked at Ed and his officers.

"Commander Mercer," said the soon-to-be president of the Klinzek Commonwealth. "Look me in the eye and tell me you will be no threat to me if I let you and your officers go free."

Mercer promised. Though, he revealed that he had recently been demoted to a lieutenant and he could not guarantee that others from the Planetary Union meant no harm to the Commonwealth.

Blackbird appreciated Mercer's honestly.

"Then you and your people are free to go," said Blackbird. He had other threats to attend to. Thankfully, if someone was indeed trying to kill him, they did a very poor job.

"That's all you wanted?" asked a surprised Mercer.

"The Klinzek have a saying. The eyes are windows to the soul."

Mercer smiled. "We have a similar saying on Earth."

"Perhaps, then, it is a universal truth," said Blackbird as he smiled back. "You have a good soul, Commander Mercer. I do not believe you are a murderous psychopath. You can also tell your commanding generals that the Klinzek plan to remain neutral in your conflict with the Krill."

Blackbird's generals were a little bit apprehensive about letting Mercer and his officers go. However, the generals were used to Blackbird's sometimes mercurial ways.

* * *

Even the best prepared plans often get trashed within just two minutes of the mission commencing. That was something every third year cadet learned at Union Point. Right now, there was still a little bit of chaos as to the _Orville_ 's current mission.

In the past 72 hours, the _Orville's_ new mission had four different commanding officers. The _Olympia_ battle group held position just outside of Krill territory as Naval Intelligence made contact with a splinter faction of the Krill who were considered to be more secular than the mainstream. They were a small minority of the population, but these Krill did not adhere to the tenets of the Anhkana and were not disposed to viewing humans as the enemy.

At first, the Krill rebel leaders asked to speak only with Ed Mercer, who they viewed as a critical potential ally. Although the Krill High Command has clashed with Planetary Union forces on multiple occasions, Mercer was viewed as the Krill's most successful enemy commander. The admiralty back on Earth debated among themselves how they would handle the situation. Officially, Mercer was still "dead," having perished in a tragic accident.

The initial plan was to send the _Orville_ to the yet-to-be-determined rendezvous point since the Krill rebels expected the _Orville_ to arrive with Mercer. However, who would be in command? Admirals Halsey and Ozawa cycled through a few possibilities.

For a very brief moment, the two admirals considered having one of them temporarily take command of the _Orville_ and meet with the Krill faction. However, HQ on Earth did not want to send such a high-ranking person into a possible trap. The rebel faction was too much of a mystery and they had agreed to meet only if the Planetary Union Fleet sent the _Orville_ alone.

After some discussion, Halsey decided to insert his very trusted protégé Chip Hudson as the temporary captain of the _Orville_. Hudson's new ship was still receiving some final touches, so he had free time on his hands. It wasn't that Halsey distrusted Lieutenant Commander Bortus, just that he had a much closer relationship with Hudson. To be frank, Bortus never made any impression on the admiral, either good or bad.

Halsey then asked his Naval Intelligence contact who had made the first communication with the Krill rebels to relay a message that Ed Mercer could not make the meeting, but that the _Orville_ would be sent with a new commanding officer. The intelligence agent relayed a response message back to Halsey that said if Mercer wasn't available, the rebels would prefer to meet with a civilian diplomat as opposed to a military officer. Halsey and Ozawa brainstormed a few options and finally decided that Retepsian Dr. Jackson would be a decent fit to serve as the first in-person contact with the Krill rebels. Halsey planned to give Jackson command of the overall diplomatic mission while leaving Bortus in command of the ship itself.

Well, that was six hours ago. Thankfully, for Admiral Halsey, he had not yet announced to the _Orville_ crew that Dr. Jackson was in charge of their mission. Halsey issued orders for Commander Bortus to take the _Orville_ to a more isolated area of the borderlands to meet up with the new mission commander. Halsey said that while the information was still classified, Bortus would be pleasantly surprised. Bortus himself was less convinced. He tried to return the admiral's smile, but only managed to maintain his stoic demeanor.

Once Admiral Halsey departed the _Orville_ for the _Olympia_ , the _Orville_ left formation and proceeded with the next step of the mission. Bortus was a little apprehensive about leaving the other ships and cruising alone in such a potentially dangerous area of space. The ever optimistic Retepsian sitting in Kelly Grayson's old chair did nothing but confuse the Moclan officer.

* * *

"Incoming message from your buddy Jean-Claude," said Kelly Grayson in a slightly sarcastic way.

"Put it through," said Mercer.

The viewscreen nearest to Mercer blinked alive with the image of Fleet Intel Supervisory Agent Jean-Claude Xavier.

"Ah, Mr. Xavier," said Mercer. Ed pronounced the name as "ex-ay-vee-er," the American way, as opposed to the more French "ex-ah-vee-ay" that the intel agent preferred. Part of it was just reflex, but another part did it to annoy the young agent.

"Report, _Lieutenant_ Mercer," said Xavier. He was annoyed, but not because Mercer mispronounced his name. He was used to everyone pronouncing his name as if he were the leader of the X-Men. He was more annoyed at the result of Mercer's recent mission. Putting emphasis on the lieutenant rank? Well, why not?

"I already sent you the report," said Mercer. "Did you not read it?"

"I read a summary of abject failure is what I read," said Xavier. "I expected more from you." Xavier tsk-tsked for effect.

"Hey! I convinced the Klinzek Commonwealth to not ally with the Krill against us," said Mercer.

"You did not get the Klinzek to declare war on the Krill, which was your objective, lieutenant."

"That is actually still on the table. The Klinzek and the Krill are historic enemies. Anyway, I developed a fairly decent relationship with their incoming president. Who knows? They may prove to be an ally in the future. These things take time," said Mercer.

Xavier paused and appeared to give it some thought. It secret, he had already considered the possibility and reported to his superiors that this was basically a tremendous win. At the time, Chief Garfield rolled his eyes, but gave Xavier more space to get it done. Luckily for Xavier, both he and Garfield now had yet another situation to occupy their thoughts. Another possible opportunity to strike a blow at the Krill. Xavier also decided to ride his horse for another outing and see how Mercer performs.

"I am sending you your new orders," said Xavier. "You may be glad to see a few familiar faces. You will take the _Yakar_ to meet up with your old ship, the _Orville_. Transfer over to the _Orville_ and she'll take you to your next mission objective."

Mercer read through some of the preliminary information about his next mission.

"Am I reinstated as the captain of the _Orville_?" asked a confused Mercer. He had hoped so, but it didn't seem like it from the orders he received.

"No," said Xavier. "Lieutenant Commander Bortus remains in temporary command until Halsey finds an adequate replacement."

"Adequate replacement?" asked an annoyed Mercer. "I just did this mission for you and Halsey. Admiral Ozawa said you would reinstate me!"

"First of all, the admiral made no such promise. She said she would try. Secondly, you failed your mission."

"I didn't fail!" insisted Mercer.

"Well, you didn't succeed," replied Xavier. "At least not yet. So…. this is where we are. I am assigning you another mission. If this new mission is accomplished, you'll get your command back. I can promise you this time. But it better be accomplished as I listed on your mission briefing."

Mercer remained silent for a few seconds but eventually nodded his agreement.

"Don't let it be said I never did anything nice for you. Not only am I upgrading your status from officially dead to alive," said Xavier with a half-smirk. "I am reinstating you part way and bumping you slightly to Lieutenant Commander."

Mercer had a curious look.

"Bortus remains in command of the _Orville_ , but you are the mission commander, "said Xavier. "I can't have a lowly lieutenant negotiate an alliance with the Krill rebels."

Mercer smiled. He didn't regain his captaincy, but he had a feeling inside that Xavier respected him at least a little bit.

* * *

"Holding station," reported Lieutenant Malloy. The _Orville_ had been waiting at the same exact spot for the past four hours.

Suddenly, the ensign at the sensors station sounded alarmed.

"Sir!" she exclaimed, "long-range sensors are picking up a Krill battleship heading our way! Recommend we rejoin the _Olympia_ task force."

"I have a course plotted," said Malloy. "Awaiting orders."

Bortus looked at Darulio, who smiled. Bortus gritted his teeth.

"No, lieutenant," said Bortus. "We hold station. The Krill battleship is our rendezvous."

Bortus tapped a button to open a communications channel.

"Commander Hudson, you and your team are go," said Bortus.

* * *

"The shuttle _Gulliver_ has entered our shuttlebay," said Kelly.

"Very well," said Mercer.

A few minutes later, Chip Hudson and two Union engineers entered the bridge of the _Redenbacher_.

Mercer and Hudson approached each other and then stood at attention once they were within four feet of each other.

"Captain Mercer, you are relieved of command," said Hudson.

"Captain Hudson, I stand relieved," said Mercer.

The two of them then relaxed a little bit and shook each other's hands. Although neither of them held the official rank of Captain, they addressed each other as such since they were both the outgoing and incoming captains of the Krill ship.

Mercer noticed that Hudson stared at him as if they knew each other.

"Captain Hudson, have we met before?" asked Mercer. He didn't recognize Hudson from anywhere.

"No," said Hudson. "It's a little complicated. We've never met. A while back, I was one of the finalists to take command of the _Orville_. As you know, you were the eventual choice."

"I see," said Mercer, feeling a little bit awkward.

"No worries," said Hudson. "No hard feelings."

To break the silence, Hudson introduced his two engineers. "These are Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Walton and Apprentice Crewmember Lanette Cole."

Mercer nodded. "Lieutenant Alara Kitan and Ensign Kelly Grayson," said Mercer in response, indicating his two officers.

Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson gave a preliminary tour of the _Redenbacher_ bridge stations and talked them through the control consoles. Hudson had been somewhat familiar but never saw the controls in real life. Soon, it was time for Mercer and his officers to leave.

Mercer gave a last look at the bridge before he left along with Kelly and Alara. Before Mercer left, he wished Hudson a smooth journey back to Earth. Hudson thanked him.

* * *

Although Lieutenant Commander Bortus did not reveal it with his face, he was elated to see his former commanding officer enter the _Orville_ 's bridge.

"Sir, I am thrilled to see you," said Bortus in a monotone voice.

Mercer smiled. Bortus offered Mercer the captain's chair, but Mercer waved it off.

"You remain in command, Bortus," said Mercer. Bortus gave Mercer an almost imperceptible nod and sat down in the captain's chair.

Alara took her station as the security chief of the _Orville_. She had been the only one of the three court-martialed officers to be fully reinstated into her position. Kelly sat in her new temporary station as a junior weapons officer. She felt a little annoyed about not being reinstated but Ed reassured her that she would soon be back in the XO's chair.

"Okay, Commander Bortus," said Mercer. "Please take us to these coordinates."

Mercer handed Bortus a computer pad which had the location of the agreed upon rendezvous with a ship from the Krill rebel faction.

Bortus gave Mercer a look.

"This is well within the disputed territories," said Bortus.

"I know, I know," said Mercer. "However, the _Olympia_ battle group has drawn the Krill fleet to another part of the borderlands. Long distance intel has confirmed that our planned destination will be clear of Krill military vessels as Admirals Halsey and Ozawa have a staring contest across the demilitarized zone against the handful of Krill vessels that usually patrol these parts."

"I see," said Bortus. The route Admiral Halsey plotted in his mission briefing allowed the _Orville_ to slip past the Krill military's sensor coverage when it detached from Ozawa's fleet.

Bortus gave Malloy the command to proceed to the coordinates Mercer indicated.

As the _Orville_ made its way to the rendezvous point, there was a bit of silence on the bridge. Mercer stood a little bit behind the Captain's chair and just stared ahead.

At one point, Lieutenant Malloy turned around from his console to speak with Mercer. There was no need to monitor the auto-pilot. Malloy wished he could speak with his old friend in private, but there was no opportunity. He was happy to discover that Mercer was still alive, but super pissed over the whole secrecy aspect of faking his death.

"You couldn't tell us it was all a ruse? We held a wake for you!" exclaimed Mercer's best friend.

"It. Was. Classified," said Mercer, punctuating each word.

There were several more seconds of simmering silent annoyance, but Malloy eventually turned his chair back around to face forward.

"Well, I hope you accomplished your precious secret objective," muttered Malloy.

"I did not," said an equally annoyed Mercer.

"Though, I didn't do too bad," added Mercer a few seconds later, in a more cheery mood.

Darulio took the opportunity to reintroduce himself to the former captain.

"It is nice to see you again," said Darulio as got up from Kelly's old seat and approached. He didn't want to shake Mercer's hand, as the last time they did so, Darulio had transferred some pheromones and caused a little bit of chaos. Although Darulio's pheromone production had since subsided, he had a feeling Mercer wouldn't want to shake hands.

"Darulio," said Mercer as he nodded in Darulio's direction. "I am told you go by Dr. Jackson nowadays."

"Yes, I do."

"That's…. interesting…." said Mercer with a tiny bit of curiosity.

"Actually, I had probably thought about it before, but I recently realized that humans like to address each other by family names while in formal situations. For a brief moment, before we were told you were actually still alive and would be joining us, I was placed in command of this mission."

All of the bridge officers either looked surprised, or were actually surprised but did not betray it in their facial expressions.

"Yes. The Krill rebels wanted to negotiate with a civilian if you were not available, Captain Mercer," continued Darulio.

"Actually, it's Lieutenant Commander Mercer now. Long story," said Mercer, a little bit awkwardly.

"Yes, I can see. I must admit, the green uniform suits you," said Darulio. Although he was a civilian, Darulio also wore a uniform. It was different from the Fleet uniforms, but it had green sections on its mostly gray jacket.

"A little over a week ago, I was briefly in an orange uniform right after my court martial when they busted me down to lieutenant. I suppose the admirals still want to keep me away from my command blues," said Mercer. Ensign Kelly Grayson also remained in a green science officer uniform.

"Ah…" said Darulio. He sensed Mercer's annoyance, so he returned to his previous train of thought.

"Anyway," said Darulio, "I noticed the human fondness for family names that end in son. For example, the family name Isaacson."

Darulio went on for at least five more names before Ed told him that he understood and needed no further examples. Malloy had rolled his eyes as he experienced déjà vu.

* * *

As the _Orville_ made its way deeper into the disputed territories, Mercer sat in his old office and studied the reports that Jean-Claude Xavier had sent to him. Although it was no longer his office, Bortus said Mercer could use it. Bortus himself rarely used the office even when though he was the interim captain.

As Mercer read the reports about the contact he was to negotiate with, the door chime rang. Mercer put down his computer pad.

"Come in," said Mercer.

Kelly Grayson walked in and the doors closed behind her as she took a seat opposite from Mercer.

"So?" asked Kelly. "What's the mission?"

"Classified, Ensign Grayson," teased Mercer as he leaned back in the captain's chair.

"Seriously?" said Kelly with a bit of annoyance.

Ed nodded.

"So Darulio gets to know, but not me? Or even Bortus?"

"I don't decide these things," said Mercer.

"Section 13?"

"Naval Intel. And Halsey. Your friend Halsey."

Kelly sighed in exasperation.

"Though, I will tell you, if I manage to pull this off, they'll reinstate me as captain," said Mercer. "And in turn, I'll reinstate **you**. It's as good as done."

"If you manage to succeed," said Kelly.

"Not only am I going to succeed in this mission," said a confident Mercer. "When Blackbird gets sworn in as President of the Klinzek Commonwealth, he'll make an alliance with the Planetary Union. I'll be promoted again, no doubt. You're looking at an admiral, Kelly."

"In your dreams," said Kelly.

"Maybe only a one-star," teased Mercer.

"Blackbird will forget about you in a couple of days. If he hasn't already," said Kelly.

"I made an impression, I can tell."

"Blackbird liked you. But he'll forget about you. You know his reputation."

"And his chief of staff, Milanka, liked me for sure. The way she looked at me."

"You mean….. Blackbird's _wife_ Milanka?"

"What?!" asked a surprised Mercer. "I thought they were like second degree cousins or something."

Kelly shrugged. "I dunno…."

Mercer was typically not judgmental about matters of love, but it still came as a surprise.

"I suppose I'll settle for Captain of the _Orville_ ," joked Mercer.

"Poor Bortus," said Kelly. "I think he was getting used to the idea of being in command."

"He's a good officer. And a great guy. His day will come."

* * *

"Commander Mercer to the bridge," came a message from the internal comms system.

Ed Mercer arrived on the bridge with Kelly Grayson in tow.

"Report," said Mercer.

"We have reached the RV point," said the junior lieutenant seated at the navigator's station next to Malloy. "Scanning all freaks."

Mercer recognized the military jargon. It wasn't the typical way Union Fleet officers spoke. RV meaning rendezvous and freaks being short for frequencies was the way that he noticed Intel officers spoke.

"Commander Bortus, who is your new navigator?" asked Mercer. Bortus had asked Mercer not to refer to him as the captain of the ship even though he was temporarily in command.

"Commander Mercer, this is Lieutenant Junior Grade Julian Lee. He is a recent transfer from the _USS Honolulu_."

Lieutenant Lee turned around to face Mercer.

"Are you an intel officer?" asked Mercer.

"No, sir," said Lee. "I was trained as an ensign with the Clandestine Operations Delivery Division. The division usually operates very small vessels. This is actually the first insertion mission I've ever been on."

"We're not inserting special agents anywhere," said Mercer. "This is a diplomatic mission."

"Aye, sir," said Lee.

"Sirs," said Alara. "Three Krill vessels are approaching. Small corvettes. We're receiving a message."

"Please put it on screen," said Mercer.

Alara punched a few commands onto her console but could not establish a communications link.

"Sirs," said Alara. "It's only a text message. They've relayed instructions. They've asked for Commander Mercer, who they refer to as Captain Mercer, to take a shuttle craft down to the surface of a nearby moon. They have requested that Commander Mercer arrive alone and unarmed. Their leader will do the same and they will engage in one-on-one negotiations."

"Commander, this is inadvisable," said Bortus.

"Agreed," said Alara. "As your chief of security, I recommend against it."

"This could be a trap, sir," said Lee.

Malloy simply shook his head side to side.

Kelly was about give the same advice, but she could see in his eyes that Mercer wanted to go.

"Lieutenant Kitan, send my response. I still arrive on the moon by shuttle. Unarmed, but with a civilian advisor."

Alara hesitated a second but sent the text message.

"Dr. Jackson, you're with me," said Mercer as he started to walk off the bridge.

Darulio started following Mercer, but Kelly intercepted.

"Commander Mercer," said Kelly. "If you're willing to push the instructions and not go alone, why don't you take Alara with you? She's a more capable bodyguard. Even without weapons, her strength would be an asset."

Darulio agreed. "While I do not mind going, perhaps the lieutenant should join us. If the Krill allow you to bring one additional person, why not two?"

Mercer shook his head.

"No, this is diplomacy. This is the mission," said Mercer.

With his mind made up, none of the other officers attempted to dissuade Mercer.

* * *

Mercer piloted the shuttlecraft _Gulliver_ down to the moon's surface without incident. He was a little bit nervous since the Krill rebels did not respond to the message he asked Alara to send notifying them that he was bringing a second person. He hoped they would not shoot his shuttle down. He wasn't exactly sure why he would take the chance to bring Darulio, but his instinct told him he might benefit from a civilian perspective.

As he approached the coordinates supplied to him, he could see that there was already a Krill shuttlecraft that landed earlier. He did not, however, see the Krill occupant. He landed the _Gulliver_ roughly 30 yards from the Krill shuttlecraft. After he powered down the engines, Mercer disembarked and Darulio followed.

As Mercer surveyed the area around him, he heard and then saw the door open on the Krill shuttle. A lone Krill walked out. He looked formidable. Perhaps a foot taller than Mercer.

"Ah," said the smiling Krill. "Captain Edwin Mercer. The rescuer of Epsilon 2; the destroyer of the _Kakov_ ; and the taker of the _Yakar_. It is a honor to receive you. May the blessings of the great Lord Avis be upon you."

The Krill made a motion towards the sky when he said the last sentence.

Mercer was a little bit surprised. His intel briefing had mentioned that the rebel faction was secular and non-religious. The Krill could tell Mercer was confused.

"What is the matter, Captain?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Mercer. He waved his hand as a reflex to wave off any concern. "It's just that the agents of my intelligence service reported that you and your rebel group do not believe in the anhkana."

"This is true," said the Krill with a nod. "We believe the anhkana to be a corruption of the true faith. The great Lord Avis is the creator of all things. He would not wish us to be at war with one another."

"You do not believe that the Krill must destroy all other alien species?" asked Mercer.

"Heavens no," said the somewhat flabbergasted Krill. "Avis loves us all."

"I see," said Mercer. This interesting development gave Mercer great hope. During his past mission when he spared the lives of the children of the _Yakar_ , he had hoped his honorable act would convince some of the Krill that the humans were not their enemy. An entire rebel faction that believed in peace with the humans, that was perfect. He only hoped the rebel faction was sizable.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said the Krill. "I am High Priest Sarnak. I lead the rebel group closest to the borderlands. We number in the thousands but are scattered throughout Krill territory."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sarnak," said Mercer. Mercer wasn't quite sure whether to shake hands, or bow, or some other greeting. He just stood there gave a brief nod to Sarnak.

"And I see you have brought a friend," said Sarnak. He did not seem disappointed, but it was clear that Sarnak himself had come alone.

"Yes. I apologize for any miscommunication," said Mercer. "My friend Darulio here is my advisor this diplomatic mission. I sent a message over to your lead ship, however, I was not sure it was received."

"I was not notified," said Sarnak with a brief frown. "However, I forgive your offense. I am delighted that you obeyed the request to come unarmed. I suppose I could have been facing a small troop of armed security officers. Please, let us sit and discuss a possible alliance."

"Also, as full disclosure, I was recently removed from command of the _Orville_ and demoted in rank. It's one of those bureaucratic things," said Mercer.

"Ah," said Sarnak. He looked as if an epiphany came to him. "Were you demoted because you left enemy Krill alive, even though they were children?"

"Oh, no," said Mercer. "Well, the admirals weren't completely thrilled about the resulting rumors that the children spread, but they would not have required me to kill your children."

"So your fellow humans are as honorable as you. That is comforting to know," said Sarnak. "I can still call you Captain Mercer?"

"Commander Mercer is fine."

"Does commander not outrank a captain?" asked a confused Sarnak.

"Actually, no. I can see why you would think so. But in historic Earth navies, a commander was traditionally in charge of small vessels whereas a captain would command large vessels and have sometimes a commander as his second in charge."

"Interesting," said Sarnak. "It is the other way around on Krill."

"Yes, I understand," said Mercer. "It is also the same on many other planets. A commander is sometimes equivalent to our one-star admirals."

Mercer did not want to confuse the priest further by saying that he was actually a lieutenant commander, but by protocol, was called a commander when addressed by voice.

The two of them spoke for an hour and a half. Sarnak seemed very curious to know about Earth's religions and everything related to the most popular religions. Ed had expected Sarnak to ask more about the Planetary Union's military strength, or diplomatic relations with other alien species. Sarnak found it fascinating that Ed, like many other humans, were not very religious at all. Though, Ed did consider himself a believer in fate sometimes, or a higher power. Sarnak tried to convince Ed that Avis was this higher power, but he could see that Ed was not completely convinced. During the conversation, Darulio largely sat quiet, save for two times when Sarnak asked about what species Darulio came from and how many species were allied with the humans in the Planetary Union.

At the end of the conversation, Sarnak finally came to discuss business.

"I believe we could be great allies," said Sarnak. "Great allies."

"I am pleased to hear this," said Mercer.

"Before we finalize our agreement, I require a token of good will. I ask that you hand over the destroyer-battleship _Yakar_ to us," said Sarnak.

"Well…." said a hesitant Mercer.

"You do not trust us?" asked Sarnak.

"It's not that," said Mercer. "This is probably a decision that is above my head."

"But you are authorized to make this happen, correct?"

"I can suggest it. I can't promise, though."

Sarnak was slightly disappointed, but optimistic that Mercer could achieve it. Mercer himself did not think the admirals would agree to such a thing, especially with so little in return. Only a promise to work together to weaken the Krill High Command.

"All I ask is you try your best," said Sarnak. "Ask your superiors whether we have a deal."

Mercer nodded.

Before Sarnak departed on his shuttle, he handed Mercer something that looked like a small toy. It was an action figure of Lord Avis' demigod son.

"These toys seem to amuse our children greatly," said Sarnak. "Consider it a token of friendship."

Mercer was only slightly amused, but Darulio seemed to consider the gesture as having great importance.

"As they say on your world," said Sarnak. "Merry Christmas from your secret Santa."

Sarnak smiled as the door to the Krill shuttle closed.

Mercer started walking back to his own shuttle and wondered to himself whether the admirals would consider this meeting at least a quasi-success. He wasn't so sure he would get reinstated as the captain of the _Orville_ after all.


	4. Chapter 4: Lucky Charms

The Orville

Popcorn: Chapter 4 - Status Quo Ante

By Vincent Chia

August 2019

Author's note: this story is still taking place in between seasons 1 & 2.

* * *

Ed Mercer walked onto the _Orville_ 's bridge and was surprised to see Kelly Grayson sitting in the first officer's chair. Under normal circumstances, it would be proper for Kelly to be sitting in that chair, but currently, she was an ensign and assigned as the ship's junior weapons officer.

"Kelly?"

Kelly turned to face Ed and smiled.

"Where's Bortus?" asked Ed.

Kelly shrugged. "I dunno. He left about an hour before his shift was scheduled to end. Since he was the highest ranking person, he didn't have to ask permission or anything. He left command to Alara when he left. I presumed it was family related since he has been having rocky relations with his mate after the disagreement over their child. He had seemed distracted even before he left."

"Then where's Alara?"

"She went to sickbay and Doc Finn looked her over briefly. Alara almost fainted onto the weapons console. Lately, she had been saying she felt a lot more fatigued than she had ever felt. It might just be her recovering from our mission to Klinzek space. Doc Finn diagnosed extreme exhaustion and told Alara to get some bedrest."

Ed accepted the explanation, but part of him was suspicious. Alara was tough. Even though she may have pushed herself to run all over the _Redenbacher_ to toy with the weapons systems or run all over that planet Blackbird owned, she should've been able to easily recover. She was Xeleyan, after all. Ed hoped she did not catch some sort of unknown illness the Klinzek mission.

Ed almost inquired about Gordon, as he was the next ranking officer, but decided that Kelly would be the more proper choice. Gordon was a great pilot, but was not one of the more responsible officers in Ed's crew. Or… former crew? Anyway, Kelly was a capable command officer. Ed decided to ignore the rank she got demoted to.

"How did the mission with Darulio go?" asked Kelly.

"It went well," said a smiling Ed. He hesitated for a second before sitting in the captain's chair.

"Lieutenant Malloy," said Ed. "Take us back to the fleet."

"Course plotted," said Gordon.

"Punch it," said Ed.

* * *

Garfield and Xavier sat in one of the conference rooms onboard the _U.S.S. Olympia_.

"How did your golden boy do?" asked Garfield.

"Mixed results, but I think more positive than negative," said Xavier. "We're getting a full briefing when Mercer comes onboard. RV in about thirty minutes."

Garfield made a mental note and then moved on to the next topic: Operation Maverick. He asked Xavier to access the reports on his infoPad.

"What do you make of all this?" asked Garfield. The reports were a source of mild annoyance.

"I told you the precog initiative was all nonsense," said Xavier.

"Yet… you are a full-throated supporter of Aronov's timeship," said Garfield.

"Apples and oranges. The timeship project is based on solid principles of astrophysics. It's science."

Garfield usually respected the thoughts of his protégé, but part of him felt the timeship was pure science fiction. However, Section 13 was nothing if not open to pushing the envelope.

"I suppose when we get the timeship operational, we could always just jump into the future and see which one of these various predictions proves correct," commented Garfield.

Xavier skimmed through the various reports that the precog handlers assembled. They were a mishmash of possibilities which seemed plausible but sometimes conflicted with each other.

Report number one stated the Krill would remain the chief antagonist of the Planetary Union. Report number two, a contradictory report that the managers of Operation Maverick called either the "minority report" or the "dissenting opinion," stated that the chief antagonist of the Planetary Union would be the Kaylon and the Krill would actually wind up being the Planetary Union's indispensable ally. To top it off, there were two contradictory sub-sections inside the second report. The first sub-section reported a small possibility that Moclan forces would pull out of the Planetary Union and leave a big gap in our defensive capabilities against the Kaylon. It was unclear whether the Moclans would simply pull out and remain neutral or would actually turn on the Planetary Union and join the Kaylon. Though, in the secondary sub-section the precogs deemed that Moclans would most likely remain a loyal ally of Earth. There was a lot of real estate covered in the reports.

All of the shifting possibilities gave Garfield a headache.

"The absolute worst thing about the Maverick reports is that they all probably turn on your man Mercer," mused Garfield.

"How so?" asked a curious Xavier.

"The Krill have been our nemesis since before Mercer took command of the _Orville_ , but you must admit tensions rose after the _Yakar_ incident. We already know the Krill consider him a murderer, a thief, and an all around life-ruiner. It might even come that the Krill discover he attempted to ally with the Krill rebels. Who knows how that will go?"

"Sir," said an astonished Xavier. " ** _We_** are the ones who sent Mercer to meet with the Krill rebels!"

"I know, I know," said Garfield. "I mean, of course I hope he succeeds. But you can easily see Mercer as somehow involved in escalating tension with the Krill."

"Or the crucial element in defusing tensions," countered Xavier.

"Let's hope so," said Garfield.

"I have a feeling Mercer and that female Krill elementary school teacher whose life he spared will have a crucial relationship that will lead to peace between our two peoples," said an amazingly confident Xavier.

"Do you see that in any one of these reports?" asked Garfield rhetorically.

"It's a hunch. I'm good with hunches."

"Uh-huh," said Garfield. Well, there was a reason he kept Xavier around. Xavier may have considered Mercer as his current lucky rabbits foot, but Garfield often considered Xavier himself to be Garfield's lucky horseshoe.

"It's too bad that out of all the contradictory predictions that the precogs have relayed to us, the one thing they agree on is that the Planetary Union will be involved in a major war, either with the Krill or with the Kaylon," grumbled Garfield.

After a few seconds, Garfield continued.

"And the Moclans, jeez. I want to be fair to Mercer but have you seen these diplomatic cables about how strongly Mercer disagrees with the alliance with Moclus? Moclans are this. Moclans are that. They're unfair towards this subset or that subset of their population. If the Moclans abandon us, I am almost sure Mercer will be a factor."

"Well….," said Xavier. "We know Mercer isn't the only Union officer with reservations about the Moclan government policies. And even if it looks like Mercer might be at the center of these possible turning points with relations with the Krill or Kaylon or Moclus, for all we know it's someone around him. It could be Halsey. Or Ozawa. Or even his first officer Grayson."

Garfield digested what Xavier said. He always had a mixture of grudging respect but at the same time a small amount of disgust for his colleagues in uniform who expressed totally impractical, in his opinion, criticisms of allies. So what if Moclus is an unfair society? They are an indispensable manufacturer of warships! He briefly wondered what the Union admirals thought of him and Section 13. But soon enough, he decided he did not care. Weaklings, he thought. A bunch of weaklings.

* * *

Admirals Halsey, Ozawa, and Blackbriar sat in the conference room after they had de-briefed Lieutenant Commander Mercer regarding his meeting with High Priest Sarnak.

The three admirals had dismissed Mercer so they could have a conversation amongst themselves.

"So, thoughts?" asked Halsey.

"I would've liked to have had a little bit more time for our guys to reverse engineer the Krill tech on the _Redenbacher_ , but I suppose we can hand the ship over as a token of friendship to the rebels," said Blackbriar. Blackbriar had reviewed drafts of the reports from Operation Maverick and knew there was a good possibility that the Krill would eventually ally with the Planetary Union. He weighed the possibility that returning the _Redenbacher_ was the first step in establishing an alliance with the Krill.

"It was a huge windfall for us to get the _Yakar_ to begin with," said Ozawa. She disliked calling the Krill ship the _Redenbacher_. "I think we should probably take our time and maybe we can give it to the rebels once our engineers and scientists tell us they've learned everything they think they can."

Halsey thought it about it for half a minute and decided to hold onto the commandeered Krill ship, at least for now.

"Where is the Krill ship now?" asked Halsey. He decided not to take sides about whether to call it the _Redenbacher_ or the _Yakar_. Ozawa insisted on _Yakar_. Blackbriar, _Redenbacher_. There was a heated discussion. Over something so trivial. Like many of the lower-ranking officers in the Union Fleet, even the Admirals behaved like children from time to time.

"Commander Hudson took it back to McCallister Station," said Captain Rohrbacher. "We can have it flown here, on your orders, sir."

"No," said Halsey. "Keep it where it is. Do we still have the Krill shuttecraft onboard the _Olympia_?"

"Yes, sir," said Rohrbacher. "Actually, the techs have named it the _Cracker Jack_."

Ozawa groaned slightly.

"Christ," thought Halsey, but did not voice his thought.

"Have the techs prep the shuttlecraft for launch," said Halsey. "Tell Garfield I want to borrow two of his agents. We're going back into Krill space and making a counter-offer."

"You don't want Mercer on this?" asked a curious Blackbriar.

"No," said Halsey. Blackbriar was curious as to why, but remained silent.

* * *

"Admiral on deck!" announced Kelly as Blackbriar entered the conference room.

Blackbriar sat down and asked Ed and Kelly to sit as well.

"Mercer, Grayson, you've both been reinstated as the commanding officer and first officer of the _Orville_ , respectively," said Blackbriar.

Ed and Kelly were both thrilled. They thanked the two-star admiral.

"Captain Mercer, please resume command of the _Orville_ at your pleasure."

"Yes, sir, admiral, sir."

"On top of that, the court martial we engineered will be wiped off your record. It never happened. At the same time, your mission to Klinzek never happened either. For the past period time, you both were simply on leave at McCallister station while the _Orville_ was receiving upgrades to its systems."

"What about the meeting with High Priest Sarnak?" asked Mercer.

"Never happened."

Ed looked at Kelly, who just shrugged.

"One last thing. Captain Mercer, Agent Xavier has asked to meet with you briefly."

Ed nodded.

"That'll be all. You're both dismissed."

* * *

Captain Edwin Mercer sat in the _Olympia_ 's Cafe Starbucks at one of the window tables. It was one of the four dining spaces onboard the large ship.

"Captain Mercer," said Xavier as he approached the table. "It's nice to see you in your typical blue command uniform."

"Thanks," said Mercer. He was happy to be a captain again. He wasn't sure whether Xavier had any part in it, but he was in a happy mood anyway.

Xavier sat down and the two of them chatted for a while. Surprisingly, the didn't talk much about either the Klinzek mission or the Krill rebel meeting. Mercer figured Xavier had gotten enough information through the endless reports that were filled out by him, Kelly, and Darulio. The two of them even chatted about movies and novels. Eventually, Xavier came back to Fleet related business.

"How is your crew doing?" asked Xavier.

"They are well," said Mercer.

Xavier thought about whether to divulge the next piece of information, but he liked Mercer and he liked Alara, even though he didn't have much contact with her.

"Your security chief Alara Kitan, how is she?" asked Xavier.

Mercer thought it was funny Xavier would ask. She had only recently reported back that she was fully ready to return to duty.

"She's fine."

"Captain," said Xavier. "I think you should know, Section 13 has been partnered with Fleet Advanced Technologies Division over an experiment we call 'Maverick.' We have had some limited success in very brief glimpses into the future."

Mercer laughed lightly. He didn't believe in such things.

"I know how it sounds. I can tell you that some of the predictions coming from the project have already been proven to be mistaken."

Mercer nodded.

"But... I can also tell you that some have proven to be right on the nail."

Mercer paused. He wanted to say something like "even a broken clock is right two times a day," but decided against it.

"Anyway," said Xavier. "One of the reports that I have come across involves your Security Chief Kitan. The specifics are rare, but sometime very soon, in the near future, she may fall seriously ill."

"How?" asked a concerned Mercer.

"We're not sure. But it will be serious enough for her to be replaced. I'm not even sure if she survives the situation, but it is medically related."

"Well, I don't believe the future is written. We control our futures. Did you read the after action report from the time when I encountered someone named Pria Levesque, who was supposedly from the future. She mentioned that the _Orville_ was supposed to already have been accidentally destroyed. Looks like we changed that particular destiny."

"Have you ever considered, Captain, that she only told you that in an attempt to manipulate you into doing exactly what she wanted? That she wasn't telling you the truth? Like in that movie 'the Matrix.' An Oracle tells Neo he is not the chosen one. Neo believes her, and subsequently undertakes a highly dangerous mission that he would have otherwise avoided if he were too important. Then during the mission, he realizes he is the chosen one."

Mercer laughed.

"Agent X, you watch too much classic old-timey science fiction," said Mercer. Though, Mercer himself enjoyed entertainment from the 20th century. That may have been part of the reason that even though he and Xavier started out with an antagonistic relationship, the two of them actually got along pretty well.

"Still, just keep an eye out over her," said Xavier.

"Has it ever occurred to you," quipped Mercer, "that me overreacting over any sign of danger is the very thing that triggers the danger? For example, a crewmember is sick with a minor illness, a doctor prescribes a cure that has an unknown side effect which turns out to be even more harmful? Or maybe a biologic cure that mutates?"

"That's beyond ridiculous. You would have doctors never giving cures!"

"Watch a Star Trek episode called 'Genesis' if you ever have time to kill. It'll be amusing. Of course, the plot will be scientifically impossible."

"Now who's watching too much science fiction?" prodded Xavier. Although he wanted Mercer to be extra protective of his security lieutenant, Xavier also appreciated the concept of a causation paradox or self-fulfilling prophecy.

"I thank you for the head's up," said Mercer. "But I think it'll be best if I forgot about your fortuneteller's prediction. I'm sure Alara will be fine."

"Well, Captain, I bid you safe journey. My understanding that is that the _Orville_ will be tasked to patrol the inner systems for the near future, away from the borderlands. Hope you enjoy the relative downtime."

"I have a feeling we'll be back in action soon enough."

The two of them shook hands and left the cafe.

* * *

Author's note: This chapter ends right before the beginning of season 2. I plan for the next chapter to basically skip the entire season 2 and then re-start back up at the end of season 2. Blackbird and the Klinzek, along with Sarnak and the rebel Krill faction, shall return.


End file.
